If you had any major concerns about Freddie Freeman and his right hand, then the face of the franchise did his best to allay those concerns with the effort that he displayed today against the Washington Nationals. Freeman hit two home runs against the Nats, and that ended up being the main highlight of a day in which the Braves lost both of their split squad games.
Freddie's power surge began early in the day, as his first homer of the afternoon came in the top of the first inning. Freeman took Stephen Strasburg deep over the left center field wall for a solo shot that put the Braves in the lead. Freeman's second dinger of the day came later on in the top of the fifth inning, although this one appears to have had a little bit of help on its way out of the park.
Welp, it looks like a ball just bounced off Ben Revere’s glove and went over the fence for a home run. Second of the day for Freddie Freeman
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) March 17, 2016
Either way, a home run is a home run, and spring training or not, any day in which you put two homers on the board is a good day. This is especially good news considering all of the hullabaloo that surrounded Freeman and his hand this past weekend. It's clear that Freeman is feeling good, and the obvious hope is that this means that he'll be 100% once Opening Day arrives.
Meanwhile, Mike Foltynewicz made his spring debut in this game, and his first start was a relatively positive one. Folty went two innings, struck out one, walked one, and gave up only one hit. The one hit that he gave up just happened to be a two-run homer in the first inning at the hands of Ryan Zimmerman. Aaron Blair relieved Foltynewicz and only gave up one run over three innings while striking out two batters and walking three over that same span. Arodys Vizcaino struck out two batters in his one inning of work as he continues to consolidate his spot as part of the closing committee for Atlanta. Unfortunately, Ryan Weber couldn't hold on to the lead in the 9th inning, though, and the Nationals ended up winning the game in Viera 9-7 thanks to a walk-off three-run homer from Chris Heisey.
Offensively, Ozzie Albies, Adonis Garcia, Dansby Swanson, and Emilio Bonifacio all contributed RBIs to the cause, with Swanson's RBI single in the seventh inning (which scored Mallex Smith) being one that put the Braves in the lead late in that game. Hector Olivera also tallied another hit in what's been a pretty productive spring so far for the presumptive starting left fielder for the Braves.
As mentioned earlier, the Braves were in split squad action today, as Atlanta hosted the Astros at Lake Buena Vista. The Braves got off to a good start in this one, as Nick Swisher put the Braves on the board in the first inning with an RBI single, and Atlanta picked up two more runs in the second inning thanks to a throwing error from Nolan Fontana. Jeff Francoeur and Kelly Johnson both ended up scoring on the play, and the Braves had a 3-0 lead at that point in the game.
That was it for the Braves and scoring, as the Astros chipped into that three run lead thanks to a two-run homer from Danny Worth off of Jason Grilli in the fourth inning, and then they eventually took the lead in the eighth inning when A.J. Reed took Jim Johnson deep for a three-run homer. That's how the Astros got their five runs for their 5-3 victory, and it's safe to say that you don't want to see two of your closing candidates giving up homers in during their spring reps. On the bright side, Manny Banuelos only gave up one hit through three innings and struck out two, though he did walk two batters as well.
Basically, it was a day of ups and downs for both Braves squads. However, the most important takeaway from today's action is that Freddie Freeman doesn't seem to have any major problems right now, and while Freeman probably still isn't 100% ready for the season to start, it definitely appears like he's trending towards being ready for the season to start. That's definitely a positive, because the Braves offense is absolutely going to need him to be healthy and firing on all cylinders in 2016.